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JRN 320

Livonia junior, Heather Eldridge walks her Emotional Support Animal, Cali, for a walk down Main Street in Mount Pleasant on November 2. 2016/ Eldridge walks Cali at least once a day.

Livonia junior Heather Eldridge gets a kiss from her Emotional Support Animal, Cali, which cuddling her in her bedroom at the Delta Ph Epsilon house on November 16, 2016.

Displayed are the three medications that Eldridge takes for anxiety, antidepressant, and her bipolar disorder. “I have her (Cali) so eventually I can get off my medication and not have to take it. That would be really big for me if I could just manage my symptoms through her (Cali),” said Eldridge.

Livonia junior Heather Eldridge fills a cup of water for her Emotional Support Animal, Cali, in her second-floor kitchen at the Delta Phi Epsilon house on November 2, 2016.

4 month-year-old, Cali, a Pit Bull and Terrier mix, plays with her toy next to Eldridge in the upstairs living room of the Delta Phi Epsilon house on November 7, 2016.

Livonia junior Heather Eldridge kisses her Emotional Support Animal, Cali while carrying her back to Eldridge’s room in the Delta Phi Epsilon house on November 7, 2016.

Livonia junior Heather Eldridge spends quality time with her Emotional Support Animal, Cali, in her bedroom at the Delta Phi Epsilon house on November 16, 2016. “This house is 100% pet free, but registering her (Cali) as an emotional support animal my landlord can’t say know,” explains Eldridge.

Heather Eldridge from Livonia, MI recently got an ESA (Emotional Support Animal). Eldridge is a junior here at Central Michigan University and was diagnosed in June 2016 with anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. Eldridge always had found comfort with her dog at home.

“Moving up to college I really missed my dog back home. He was always a mood stabilizer for me, so I thought getting a dog to have up at school would be really helpful,” explained Eldridge.

Eldridge has owned her ESA, Cali (a Pit Bull and Terrier mix) for 4 months and had her Grandmother buy her after Eldridge found Cali on Craig’s List. Eldridge currently lives in her sorority house, Delta Phi Epsilon, which is traditionally an animal free residence, but since getting Cali and registering her, Eldridge has been noticed for this increase in acceptance of ESA.

“Whenever I am having an anxiety attack she (Cali) is really conscience of it, so she will come up and cuddle me. She will be that calm thing. If I something, like an outlet, to reduce stress I take her on walks and play with her. It really just calms my mood,” Eldridge said.

As stated by the US Dog Registry website Emotional Support Animals help people with anxiety, depression, bipolar/mood disorders, panic attacks, and other emotional or psychological conditions. There is a constant rise in ESA and therapy dogs for mental issues.

Eldridge, like many others, has found comfort confiding in her furry friend and is making a difference by having Cali on CMU’s campus. Eldridge even admits that since she got Cali, she has become an emotional support to more people than just Eldridge herself.

On Thursday, October 13th fraternity men walked around the campus of Central Michigan University shirtless, collecting money for Zeta Tau Alpha’s philanthropy week and breast cancer research.

Zeta Tau Alpha, Gamma Omicron chapter, annually holds a philanthropy week in October called Think Pink Week. This is to help raise money for breast cancer research.

The week consists of fraternity chapters competing against each other to raise the most money and most points for a prize.

During the one day of the week, the men go shirtless and have sisters from Zeta Tau Alpha paint their body with a pink ribbon for breast cancer and their fraternity letters. They then walk around campus, in the cold, asking people for donations.

“It was one of the best weeks of my life. My grandmother, one of my biggest role models, had her last chemo treatment for breast cancer that Tuesday. This gave me more motivation to be heavily involved with ZTA’s philanthropy week,” states Freshman, Mark Mostek Jr. of Beta Theta Pi.

The rest of the week consisted of decorating the houses in pink, sundaes for survivors, best man on campus and a football game.

What I learned:

I learned that you need to know what you want to show in the story before you start shooting. My biggest issue with this assignment was figuring out what photos told the story the best. I originally had two different sets of photos I could have used for this picture package. I struggled first figuring out what photo set was the best to use and then deciding the best photos for the story.

Once I figured out what story I was going to use I did a rough layout of the package and then ran into struggles trying to get the photos to work with the captions, leaving enough space for the copy block. With the help from my professor I was able to design it to make it work, but i am not 100% pleased with this assignment. I feel like I could have done better, so my advice to any aspiring journalists is to be aware of your photos and design the story mentally before you do anything.

Photos and Captions:

A sister from Zeta Tau Alpha paints a fraternity man’s chest with the Breast Cancer ribbon for their Think Pink Week event on October 13, 2016.

Brothers of Beta Theta Pi work with sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha to raise money outside Bovee University Center at Central Michigan University, on October 13, 2016.

Men from Sigma Chi stand together before going out to collect donations for Breast Cancer, on October 13, 2016

A bucket filled with donation money for Brest Cancer Research for ZTA Think Pink Week, on October 13, 2016.

On Saturday, September 17, 2016, Central Michigan Univeristy’s Chippewas went head to head again University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Rebels, at 44-21. This leaves the Chippewas 3-0 for the start of their fall season for the first time since 2002.

Quaterback, Cooper Rush scored the game winning goal for CMU. Rush is now honored as the Mid-American Conference West Division Offensive Player of the Week for this 20-52 passes with a record of six touchdowns from this game. This helped show the national attention on the football team that they can hold their own and stay focused enough to win.

There were around 19,922 fans in the stands Saturday watching this historic moment for the Chippewas.

What I learned:

I learned a lot about what it takes to shoot sports photography. When shooting for this assignment I had the opportunity to be apart of a football shooting workshop with Professor Fitzgerald and we got to go on the field during the game. This was an amazing experience. I learned that when you shoot sports photography you technically can not go past a certain line on the field or in the red box that the players “sit” in. With the large amount of people that are actually on the field during the football game this was harder then I thought. Shooting for this assignment taught me to fight for my right to shoot and to not be afraid to just get up in there for the shot.

The thing I struggled with the most was actually capturing the perfect action shot or any really good action shot. I has a hard time with timing. I think this picture package would be 100% better if I had an actual action shot as part of the story, but sadly I do not. I learned that you have to shoot consecutively when shooting sports because the action is fast paced and you can not assume anything because it is all spontaneous. I hope that the next time I shoot sports (cough cough, my sports feature story for JRN 422) I get that needed action shot.

I learned a lot when it came to designing. We did a bit of photo story designing in my class with Professor McDonald, but what I learned here was really applicable and something I know I can apply in the future. Especially with the layout planning that we did, this is a crucial part to designing a picture package and should be viewed as such.

Student’s cheer in the crowd to get pumped up at the start of the CMU vs. UNLV game at Kelly Shorts Stadium on the campus of Central Michgian University on Saturday, September 17, 2016.

Westland runningback Devon Spalding raises his hand in a no. 1 after CMU scored a touchdown during the CMU vs. UNLV game at Kelly Shorts Staduim on Saturday, September 17, 2016.

Central Michigan Univerisity cheerleaders run with CMU flags after a touchdown around the field of Kelly Shorts Stadium on Saturday, September 17th, 2016. This is a tradition during every football game to celebrate a touchdown.

I have used the studio previously, once, for our assignment, but yesterday in JRN 320 was the first time I kind of learned hands-on what I should do and how to do it. This was a great experience, I saw so much growth in such little time for all my peers and in less in 10 minutes I learned things I never would have thought to do.

I normally just shoot and shoot, not moving much while the subject does his or her thing. I kinda struggled getting photos perfectly framed when shooting close. I am either too high, too low, etc, but thankful I have Kent Miller as a professor and he stood there one-on-one with us, coaching us through the process. He taught me this simple trick, that once you hear the beep of the camera, move it down just a tad (if you tend to shoot too high, like me).

This helped tremendously and was something so simple, I was surprised I never thought of it myself. That is what makes this class so great, that is what makes photography so great, you are never going to be perfect, but with guidance, support from peers and so much practice you are going to discover new things and unearth your true potential.

I may have took some portraits already for our first assignment, but I know I am going to go back in the studio at least 2 more times and redo something, play with lighting and work on techniques I never thought to use.

For my in-class portraits, I actually got to photograph a friend of mine since freshman year which was really fun. Below are some of my best shots of Mr. Robert Dachseiner.